The thing is I am a private studio and don't like to pay a couple of thousand every few years to upgrade the ProTools cards (I already spent a lot on simple migration from PCI to PCIe).

Recently I added an API 1608 to my setup (yes indeed) which means I am using less and less plugins. Also i am not running super high track count sessions and i could spent he HDX upgrade money for extramodules in my Burl Mothership...

Avid's HD Native PCie, is a fantastic product in it's own right. I have had a couple clients trade in their Legacy TDM HD cards, [old PCI Core and Accell Cards] and make the move from a G5 to an Intel Mac Pro, with the HD Native PCIe system, and they are all flying FAST. The raw native juice from a g5 to a mac pro is kinda ridiculous..

Avid's HD Native PCie, is a fantastic product in it's own right. I have had a couple clients trade in their Legacy TDM HD cards, [old PCI Core and Accell Cards] and make the move from a G5 to an Intel Mac Pro, with the HD Native PCIe system, and they are all flying FAST. The raw native juice from a g5 to a mac pro is kinda ridiculous..

I can second that, my TDM rig was based on an 8 core Mac/PT8 and still I feel like it's running even faster on PT10 with the Native HD card?! I can open HD2 sessions which were maxing the DSP and taxing the CPU without any particular problem. The extra latency compensation and not having to worry about voice count, RTAS/TDM, anymore is really great.
I don't do any serious tracking so the product really fits my needs.
I didn't notice any improvement in sound but I couldn't check the two rigs side by side nor I compared printed mixes, so who knows...
A.

but after really digging into the native thing, it can be full of surprises,. maybe I should have stayed at PT9.03 [now at 9.06]
as in really have to know the system/plugs to avoid 90xx errors coming even when youre at 40% cpu..its mostly VIs

with TDM you had a wall and that was it. so you backed off or reworked your session... native can just be,.. different
BUT
once its going its great...

Im happy with the switch,..finally being on pcie mac,..
maybe 10 is better., love clip gain..

but I felt punishing the HD owners with the upgrd 1k or even 600 was,..hmmm unfortunate.. so 9 is fine [till 64 bit 11]

I had to do the switch for economic reasons. The recent updates (track counts, delay comp, aftermarket interface options etc...) combined with high powered towers have made going native a professional option. I do a lot of heavy vocal stuff with tons of stacks. I have done ok and only need to bounce things down on the largest of large arrangements. I am hoping to enhance even further with the apollo or something similar. There has never been a better time to do it. I did the switch 5 years ago and its only gotten better and better.

I had to do the switch for economic reasons. The recent updates (track counts, delay comp, aftermarket interface options etc...) combined with high powered towers have made going native a professional option. I do a lot of heavy vocal stuff with tons of stacks. I have done ok and only need to bounce things down on the largest of large arrangements. I am hoping to enhance even further with the apollo or something similar. There has never been a better time to do it. I did the switch 5 years ago and its only gotten better and better.

I think you're talking about LE, or what was formally LE, we're talking about HD Native that was released about a year ago?ish (?)

I have an LE system at home and that will definitely not cut it for the work I do at the studio...

I've made the jump from PCI-X HD3 to HD Native. Honestly its been a great transition. I feel like I can run many more plugins than I have before. I'm even using the system with an SSL Delta link to two SSL Alpha links with no problems whatsoever. You do have to jump through a few hoops when your sessions get bigger, and running any sort of VI cripples the system rather quickly. Having said that I've tracked live full bands without any sort of problem. It does help though to have a console for headphone sends as once you start increasing the playback engine past 256 the latency does get rather annoying for artists. Some people are of course more sensitive than others. All in all, I am very happy with the switch, I feel as I need more power, I'll just upgrade the computer and it'll be even better.
-Seth

I recently bought a Mix Core Card to qualify for a HD Native exchange. I have just sold my HD1 for almost as much as I paid for the Native Exchange (it cost me about £150 including mix core). So now I'm on Pro Tools 10, using a 2006 2 x Dual Core Mac Pro and I would say the processing power is slightly better with Native than HD1 (a maxed out HD1 mix, runs at 1024 HW buffer but no lower on Native) . I was hoping it would be markedly better, so now I'm going to upgrade the Mac.

How is the mother ship connected to hd native? Is the digilink output working in pt11?
Thinking of switching my hdx + hd I/O to hd native + mother ship in my mixing / mastering studio, but am still hesitant...